Introduction.

Don’t get saddled with a pricey, two-wheeled collection of random consequences.

“I want people to understand there is a whole other process to getting a bike. If you don’t want to let Trek or Cannondale or Specialized do the thinking for you and instead want to be totally engaged in this process, well, then hear me out, because that’s what I do and with meticulous detail that can prove to be irresistible.”

Why meeting John Drake is a very good day.

John Drake has an honesty and a directness when talking about places, faces, books, coffee, kites, backgammon, pocket watches, and bikes. Right now, he’s talking bikes. Shrugging, he says. “Dropping $6,000 or more on an off-the-shelf bike is totally wrong. I’m not here to build a client a $3,000 bike. I can’t do that. That’s not an option. But, just like my building a client a $3,000 bike is not an option, paying $6,000-plus for a bike that comes with a sticker that says, ‘Made in China’ shouldn’t be an option either.”

Five-figure bike that hits like a left hook below the belt.  

“Last week I had a client come to my shop with a bike he wanted me to do a fit on. Here’s a carbon gravel bike that cost $12,000. A gravel bike that had no clearances for the tires to expand up to a size 44. This is a gravel bike? A gravel bike made in 2021 and it can’t take tires up to size 44? And that was just one of the less fixable problems. It’s heinous. Gravel bike? He needs to uncheck that box.” 

Cool in a box. Really?

Let’s not be hazy about this legacy bicycle makers are essentially in the business of improving their processes to boost profits and are unequivocally statistical and data driven. They work to emphasize cycle-time, build bicycles with a team-focused managerial approach and are concerned with project management and the standardization of work. When a legacy manufacturer outsources the majority of a bike’s construction to Asia, where frames are created in parts and where robots do the painting (for speed and repeatability) and where each frame is traveling the work line with its spec sheet and where these bikes are being assembled in different countries for the best tax incentives—as is the case in the multiplying world of series-production bicycles—how can these bikes be called “handbuilt”? 

It doesn’t quite add up.

The next time you crank up Google, plug in the word “handbuilt” and look at the images. A handbuilt anything is a one-off, and to say otherwise is to commodify the word “handbuilt.” While these legacy bikes may shine like a diamond, they still reside in the dustbin of mass-market bikes. Legacy bike makers want to have you think these bikes are something special, cutting edge, refined, well bred. Simply put, when you buy a legacy bike, a bike from Specialized, Trek, Cannondale, or whoever, you’re buying a business process, a badge, which is nothing like a handbuilt, handmade bicycle made unapologetically just for you. If this were the fight game and not the bike world, legacy bike makers wouldn’t register as flyweights. The heavyweight, the super heavyweight, would be John Drake.

Two-wheeled decision making hygiene.

Make no mistake, you could fill a number of full size books with what John Drake granular about the world of bicycles. It is a challenge to cram even the important facts about the way he constructs bikes. All the bikes John makes are meticulously built to meet a client’s exact requirements and no two are the same. These are bespoke bikes built to your measurements and designed to your preferences and where everything. All of John’s knowledge, acquired over four decades of research goes into the build. Even the littlest things, are special. These are bicycles full of sophisticated grace notes. Bicycles that, to any and all who care to know such things, signal a higher rung on the ladder. In an era where all communication is atomized into 20-second snippets, this web site is probably far too long to hold the attention of anyone who isn’t bike-mad. We have deliberately tried to keep what follows short, all the same, we think you’ll still find this is a robust, authoritative, and patient guide to helping you make the right decisions and  better understand the intricacies of making these decisions. If you’re thinking of spending $6,000 or more on a bicycle then you should read what’s offered here. It will provide you with a truer understanding of how John builds, handcrafts, and creates, exceptional, custom-built bicycles.

John Drake is the oxygen in the room.

At the center of the force-multiplying world of constructing aerodynamic, comfortable bikes—at the center is John Drake. John Drake using the Retül system to measure every degree of movement and every millimeter of distance, providing the data to help you make choices. Next: providing the fitting and analysis protocols. Next: getting the biomechanics and bicycle geometry right. Next: carefully building up a new bike to your positioning numbers, with parts and accessories you’ve chosen. Next: you riding a bike that honors not just the Apollo of reason but also the Dionysus of Delta V. Riders and triathletes of all levels who value the benefits of a one-on-one personalized approach with a fitter/mechanic/philosopher with decades of experience in building bikes with the tolerances of a nuclear sub should seek John out. 

Handcrafted is a whole level up from handbuilt. It’s a flow state. 

A handcrafted bike from John Drake relies on a ton of experience. Experience and “feel.” You cannot, repeat, cannot do handcraft and scale. A bike handcrafted by John Drake is one thing at one time, for one person. There is no substitute. Each bike is one of a kind. John Drake is not fungible. These are high-tech bikes with midcentury artisanship and on-the-rail handling. Bikes constructed by John Drake put out a vibe that registers on seismographs. If you’re thinking of getting a bike from John, you better eat your Wheaties.